Smart Moves

The unprecedented demand for detached suburban houses let home sellers reign supreme throughout the pandemic. This situation was painful for buyers, who were compelled to pay well above asking price to compete with rival purchasers.

But with soaring mortgage rates and economic uncertainty now the norm, sellers are no longer calling the shots.

“Sellers can no longer assume they’ll have long lines of eager buyers bidding for their property. They can’t just throw a place on the market in any condition and expect the cash to roll in,” says Tom Early, an independent real estate broker in Ohio.

Granted, there’s still an overall shortage of appealing properties relative to the demand for homes among first-time purchasers. But higher mortgage rates have greatly reduced buying power, putting strict limits on how much purchasers can offer.

“Buyers are scarcer, which gives the active ones a whole lot more sway in negotiations,” says Early, who’s worked in real estate since 1983.

“After the frantic rush for real estate over the past two years, buyers are finally seeing a calmer market. Those still able to afford homeownership are quickly regaining lost leverage,” says Nicole Bachaud, a senior economist for Zillow, the national real estate firm.

Owners have reacted differently to the quickly changing real estate market. Some, with no urgency to move, have withdrawn their listings, if only temporarily. Others have begun reducing their prices. Still others are clinging to above-market prices against the advice of housing experts.

“Sellers should anticipate that buyers are unwilling or unable to pay a price similar to what their neighbor’s home sold for a month ago,” says Taylor Marr, an economist for Redfin, a large real estate brokerage.

Though the rise in mortgage rates is disconcerting for buyers, the decline of seller supremacy could be a positive for people saving now for a purchase in 2023.

Here are a few pointers:

-- Set up an in-person interview with a mortgage lender.

Financial studies show that people save more if they have a concrete objective in mind. But how can you make your home-buying goal more tangible?

Gerri Detweiler, a personal finance expert and author, says one way to reorder your priorities is to visit a mortgage lender to determine how much you can afford to spend for a property and how large a down payment you’ll need.

Once you’ve established your borrowing ceiling, Detweiler recommends you embark on a very limited property search by stopping by a few open houses in the neighborhood you’ve targeted.

“Getting a quick overview of the market can prove highly motivating to help you save,” she says.

-- Review your current spending patterns.

Celia Brugge, a Tennessee-based financial planner, says Americans slip easily into temptation when it comes to discretionary purchases.

“It’s easy to fall into impulse purchases for clothing, shoes or electronics. And eating out is a huge category that can easily consume $500 a month or more,” says Brugge, who’s affiliated with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org).

Brugge urges anyone trying to embark on a savings program for the purchase of a home, or any other major financial goal, to first go through what she calls “the boot camp period.”

During this initial phase, she suggests you do an inventory of where your money has gone during a recent three- to 12-month period. You can do this by reviewing the entries on your checking or credit card statements and then summarizing your outlays.

Another handy tool for tracking spending that Brugge recommends is Mint, available though the website of a company called Intuit (mint.intuit.com). Through its software, Mint lets you expedite the budgeting process by easily identifying and organizing your transactions.

Once you know where your money is going, it’s time to start making cuts in low-priority categories.

To stay on track and accountable for their spending, Brugge advises couples to set regular times -- as often as weekly -- to report to each other on their recent spending.

-- Assess your transportation outlays.

Detweiler says many people take their need for a late-model vehicle as a given. But to save for a home of your own, you may need to downscale your expectations in this category.

“Owning a new car is not a necessity, though some people treat it as one. And it can be a lot more costly to the budget than people think,” says Detweiler, who drives a car she bought used.

In an ideal world, those with a big savings goal will consider selling a vehicle they own and commuting by rail or bus until their goal is met. Another option is to carpool with a colleague from work. Of course, working from home can save a bundle on commuting costs.

-- Try to reduce your insurance costs.

Insurance brokers and salespeople can be persuasive when encouraging clients to maximize their coverage. But Detweiler says would-be buyers should examine their spending in this domain. For instance, you might find a way to reduce the cost of your car insurance policy without compromising your core coverage.

“Shop around for insurance and also look into how much you could save by increasing your deductibles,” she says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

For a full decade, a California social worker in her 60s rented out a Spanish-style town house in Arizona she bought as an investment. Through the pandemic, the place had steadily risen in value. But, foreseeing the end of the frothy seller’s market, she sold the town house this past summer.

“I’m incredibly happy I sold when I did. My retirement is just around the corner, and I really need to prepare financially. If I’d waited until fall, the sale wouldn’t have yielded the same profit I got this summer,” the social worker says.

Not all homeowners have timed their selling plans so perfectly. This fall, the market has slowed substantially due to rising mortgage rates.

“Even buyers able to qualify for a loan at current rates could feel frozen, waiting for mortgage rates to fall dramatically again,” says Skylar Olsen, the chief economist at Zillow, the national real estate company.

At this point in the economic cycle, some would-be sellers are waiting it out. But like the social worker, others have a compelling reason to sell promptly.

Whether your home sale is voluntary or involuntary, real estate specialists say it’s critical that you make agent selection a priority.

“Treat hiring an agent as seriously as you would hiring any professional -- including an attorney, an accountant or a surgeon,” says Eric Tyson, a personal finance expert.

Tyson, the co-author of “House Selling for Dummies,” says it’s “all too common” for owners to take a casual approach to hiring a listing agent.

“In many cases, people just make a random selection --picking an agent whom a friend or co-worker knows. But selling success depends on due diligence,” Tyson says.

Ron Phipps, a real estate broker and former president of the National Association of Realtors (nar.realtor), says more owners are gradually getting the message about the importance of careful agent selection.

“It used to be that a lot of people would just call a family member who happened to have a real estate license. But now, many sellers search more widely,” he says.

Here are a few pointers for sellers:

-- Seek to interview at least two to four candidates.

Without interviewing other contenders, you may be tempted to hire the first agent who comes recommended. But Phipps says it’s still wise to interview numerous candidates.

“When you talk to several people, you’ll get different perspectives on your sale,” Phipps says. “Several opinions on pricing can be especially helpful.”

He says you should be wary of any agent who suggests you list your place for more than 10% above what others say is its fair market value.

“Find out how they arrived at that higher price,” says Phipps, noting that occasionally some agents may suggest an above-market-list price to flatter you into hiring them. This practice is known as “buying the listing.”

“It’s a shortsighted listing strategy,” Phipps says.

-- Zero in on local knowledge.

Your uncle or that highly recommended friend-of-a-friend might be an excellent real estate agent. But should you consider hiring this person if their office is located a significant distance away from your place?

Absolutely not, says Tyson, who contends that a faraway agent is likely to be much less effective in marketing your property than one who knows your local turf well.

“Anyone who works more than a 15-minute drive from your place is probably a very poor bet. Geography matters a lot,” he says.

It’s especially wise to have an agent close by if you’re trying to sell a property in a city setting -- such as a condo in a high-rise building. In such a case, the ideal agent is typically someone with proven experience selling units in your same building.

“Agents with an intimate knowledge of the floor plans and sales history of your complex can hit the pricing target right the first time. That spares you the agony of multiple pricing adjustments later,” Tyson says.

Realtors call the area where they most often sell homes their “farm.” As Tyson says, agents who say they farm your area should be able to demonstrate this with a list of transactions they’ve done there recently.

-- Ask for data on a candidate’s awards and honors.

How can you identify agents who have achieved an unusual level of expertise? Phipps says one way to do so is to ask if they’ve been elected to positions of leadership within their professional groups.

“This shows they have a reputation for collaborating with other real estate people,” Phipps says. That’s important because real estate is a cooperative profession, and a successful sale typically involves more than one agent.

-- Choose an agent with a proven deal-closing record.

During boom times, most sellers feel comfortable once they’ve obtained a ratified contract -- meaning their deal has been agreed upon by both sides of the transaction.

But in a transitional period like the current one, many sellers are understandably nervous that complications along the way to closing might jettison their deal. That’s because qualifying for a mortgage is trickier than it was prior to the recent increase in mortgage rates. Consequently, more home loan applications are declined than before.

“Selling has become much more complicated. So, it’s smart to find an agent with experience handling many different kinds of transactions. Look for their record of closing deals, not just taking listings,” Phipps says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

The stunning rise in mortgage rates coupled with shocking rent increases have compounded the gloom experienced by many tenants who wish to escape their apartments by purchasing a property of their own.

But real estate specialists see some surprising positives for the current generation of first-time buyers.

“We’re finally seeing some rebalancing of the formerly ultra-strong seller’s market -- including seller concessions and a softening of inflated prices,” says Rich Harty, an independent realty company owner.

Harty cites the case of one tenant who was driven to buy after getting hit with a proposed $400-a-month rent increase on his Chicago-area apartment.

“My client wanted to stabilize his monthly expenses. Luckily, he was able to negotiate a good deal on a small townhouse with a nice little garden. The townhouse had been vacant for several months, and the seller was highly motivated,” says Harty, who works solely with buyers.

Harty says more owners are now willing to bargain with purchasers, especially if their property has been sitting vacant for an extended period and they have a compelling reason to move.

Many wannabe buyers are nervous about buying a place that’s lingered on the market for many days. Yet Sid Davis, the author of “A Survival Guide for Buying a Home,” says many vacant homes that languish unsold for a long period have simply become stigmatized because they were overpriced when first listed.

“There will be a whole lot less competition for a property that’s gone vacant, raising the suspicions of all the buyers searching that market. You probably won’t have to scramble with rivals the way you would for a well-staged home that’s not vacant,” Davis says.

Still, he cautions that buyers considering ownership of a long-vacant house should seriously investigate why it’s been sitting vacant and unsold.

“There’s always a reason, and it goes without saying that you darn well better find out what that reason is before going forward. Your risk, though small, is that there could be something gravely wrong with that house,” Davis says.

Here are a few pointers for buyers pondering the purchase of a vacant home:

-- Seek out information on the home’s owners.

It’s tough to gain details on a house that’s been vacant for months if its owners have already moved away --perhaps due to divorce, ill health or a job transfer.

To learn the unvarnished truth about a vacant property, your best sources are often neighbors, says Dorcas Helfant, the broker-owner of several Virginia-based realty firms.

“Neighbors often have an irresistible urge to tell everything they know about a vacant house on their block -- even if it’s against their personal interest to do so,” says Helfant, a former president of the National Association of Realtors (nar.realtor).

-- Consider doing a “pre-inspection” on a vacant place.

Perhaps the property you like has gone unsold for so long that you’re nervous about hidden defects. In such cases, Merrill Ottwein, a veteran broker who specializes in finding property for those in the military, suggests you have a pre-inspection.

He tells the true story of one of his clients, an Air Force colonel who wanted to learn more about a handsome ranch-style house that had gone vacant a few months before he spotted it. The house was listed at $50,000 below other comparable homes in the same neighborhood, and he wanted to know why.

At Ottwein’s recommendation, the colonel spent $200 for a very brief home inspection. This revealed that the house had a serious crack in its foundation. As a result, he walked away from the property and bought a two-story place in the same neighborhood that proved a better choice, even though it was marked $30,000 higher.

Why is it sometimes wise to hire a home inspector to check a property before (rather than after) you’ve submitted your bid?

“If you decide to go through with the purchase, a pre-inspection will let you bid based on findings from the inspection. Alternatively, you can back out without complications,” Ottwein says.

-- Examine local sales data before making a final offer on a vacant home.

“Don’t put in a bid until you and your agent take a good look at the recent sales history of the area. It’s always smart to be vigilant to avoid overpaying,” Helfant says.

To get a handle on values, you and your agent should examine at least three similar properties that have sold in the immediate area in the past three to six months -- adjusting for differences, such as a larger kitchen or a kitchen with brand new cabinets, appliances and quartz countertops.

But Helfant cautions against seeking out-of-proportion discounts to make up for minor shortcomings in a vacant house.

“In many areas, sellers are still in a relatively strong position, due to high demand from younger buyers in the millennial generation. In areas where owners remain in the driver’s seat, you don’t want to get picky about little issues like a spot on the carpet or a bedroom painted a color you find unpleasant. These days buyers who let their emotions get the best of them can still easily become losers,” she says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)